More Ex-Devils Could Be Coming Home To Jersey

The Devils already signed former Devils Bobby Holik and Brian Rolston in the off-season and many joked that who was next, Claude Lemieux. Well Claude will not be returning to the Devils but the 43 year old seems poised to sign a one-year two way contract with the San Jose Sharks. Lemieux is currently playing for the San Jose farm club the Worcester Sharks and has 2G-4A in 14 games.

Of the realistic options for the Devils, Brendan Shanahan has been looking for a team all year long. The Rangers felt they did not need him or his leadership, they thought Scott Gomez was someone who could step in and fill that role. Oh boy, were they wrong. The Flyers tried to sign him in November, but they could not clear the cap space. Other teams like the Blues have been interested, but Shanahan has made it clear he wants to stay near the New York area. So that leaves the Devils?

The Devils said they had no interest or do they? Lou always keeps everything tight to the vest so you never know and he never rushes into something, but adding Shanahan would not hurt the team just help. His leadership and power-play expertise is something any team would seem to want. You could easily see him slide into the third line with Rolston and Holik, freeing up Clarkson, Madden or Pandolfo for a trade for a defenseman.

Another ex-Devil of interest could be the Islanders Bill Guerin. The Islanders are going nowhere fast and are looking to unload Guerin and Doug Weight for draft picks. The only problem is that their cap hit is 4.5 million dollars each, so they may be hard to move as not many teams have the cap space to add that amount of money. The Devils could, but would need to make the move right around the trading deadline. In return the Devils would not have to give-up much in return, so keep you eyes and ears open in regard to these two players.

But what the Devils need the most is a top four defenseman who can play the point on the power-play and kill penalties. Well not too many ex-Devils out there on the trade market that fit this role. The top defenseman that could be on the move and fit what the Devils need are Mattheui Schneider (ATL), Jay Bouwmeester (FLA) and Thomas Kaberle (TOR). All three come with high price tags, but Schneider, Bouwmeester will be free agents at the end of the year.

The one ex-Devil defenseman that could be an option is Jason Smith. The Ottawa Senators are desperate to make a trade and Smith brings a strong defensive presence, a leadership quality and a cheaper price tag at 2.5M a year. And he is signed through next year as well.

We will see what happens but wouldn't mind bringing back some more ex-devils that could help. Devils start a two game road trip in St. Louis tonight and a great New Year's for me watching the Devils beat the Dallas Stars and then see the ball drop.

Devils Are Better Off Without Gomez

It seems as if things are getting back to normal and the world order is falling back into place. After a long stretch where the Devils were dominated by the Rangers the tides have turned back to way they should be with the Devils frustrating the Rangers into submission. The latest 4-2 win, not only made it two-in-row but the Devils stormed Lundquvist for four goals which could seem like 20 after he posted a 1.19 GAA in the last ten games against the Devils at the Garden.

After being shut-out two games in-a-row and setting the franchise record for longest streak with-out a goal, the Devils got on the board 2:54 into the game on a Brian Rolston goal. Rolston's goal was his 3rd in the past six games and his first on the power-play. The Devils also got goals from their top three goal scorers Elias (17), Parise (19) and Zajac (10). And the Rangers just never seemed as if they were in the game at all from the drop of the puck.

Scott Gomez was held off the scoreboard and is not living up to the huge salary that he received two years ago. While leading the Rangers in ice time with near twenty-three minutes a game, Gomez has 23pts. (6G-17A) and is playing at a minus-11 rating. So is he missed? No way, no how.

The Devils top two centers of Zubrus and Zajac have combined for 46pts. (18G-28A) and are playing at a combined plus-21 rating. Not too shabby, especially considering Gomez makes 3.6 million more a season than does Zajac and Zubrus combined. I will take that production instead of an overpaid center who can't score goals or play defense any day. So the next time the Devils play the Rangers, don't booo Scotty, just thank him for being just another overpaid center who the Rangers took from us.

Notes:
-The Fourth Period web-site is reporting that Devils are still an option for Brendan Shanahan. Shanahan is looking to stay close to the New York area and the Flyers and Rangers do not have the cap space to sign him. He would be a great fit and could possibly move into the 3rd line with Holik and Rolston, letting Clarkson play with Madden and Pandolfo. The longer though he goes without signing, the less effective he may be in his return. So if the Devils are gonna make the move it must be sooner than later.
- A feel good story in Barry Tallackson is happening. After surgery during camp to relieve an irregular heartbeat, Tallackson returned to the Devils but was not ready and got sent down to Lowell. After struggling through his first 8 games without a point, Tallackson has started to find the back of the net and now has 4 goals in his last 4 games. So good for him and maybe we will see him somehwere in the NHL soon, whether it is with the Devils or on another club.
- Speaking of Lowell, the AHL affiliate has won their last two games after a long losing streak. They now sit at 13-14-4 and are 6pts. out of a playoff spot with at least one game at hand on everyone in the Eastern Conference.

151 Minutes, 24 Seconds and Counting

151 Minutes and 24 seconds and counting! Yes Devil fans, that is how long we have gone without a goal. The last Devils goal was by Brian Rolston at 8:36 of the 2nd period against the Flyers last Sunday.

Last night, the Devils shut down the Pens high powered duo of Crosby and Malkin, limiting the Penguins to 18 shots but a goal by Fedetenko in the 2nd period just squeaked through Clemmensen and it seemed as if in slow motion crossed the goal line for the only goal of the game.

For a team that had scored 30 goals in seven games (4.29 Goals-per-Game) before these past two shut-outs, tough times and missed opportunities have been the scenario for the past two games. As in the game against the Bruins, the Devils had glorious opportunities that were missed. Jamie Langenbrunner had several chances that he missed on, Travis Zajac missed a wide-open net late in the 2nd period, David Clarkson missed a goal by literally an inch as the entire puck just couldn't get across the goal line , etc. etc etc.

Despite pestering 37 shots at the Pens, the game seemed lack luster and for three periods and the Devils seemed to lack the sense of urgency to score for two periods. The Devils need to find their offense right away as they held to the garden and face the Rangers tonight, as not getting at least two points out of this week would be a huge set-back.

Notes:
- The Devils have three players playing in the World Junior Championships in Ottawa. Mike Hoeffel (LW/USA-2007 2nd Rd. Pick), Patrice Cormier (C/Canada-2008 2nd Rd. Pick) and Mattias Teneby (RW/Sweden-2008 1st Rd. Pick).
- Scott Clemmensen can't be blamed for the past two losses. He has only allowed one goal in each of the past two games and has stopped 39-of-41 shots in the two games.
- Coach Sutter finally split up the top 2 lines late in the game last night. Elias was centering Parise and Rolston late in the game. Let us hope that he goes back to the way things were before the two shut-outs and maybe moving Rolston to the wing with Parise and Zajac.

Missed Chances Cost Devils in 2-0 Loss to Bruins

Well, it was not as if the Devils did not have their chances in their 2-0 loss to the Boston Bruins. Elias had the best chance of the night as he had a wide open net, but Tim Thomas made a huge save diving across to stop the puck. Brian Rolston and Colin White both hit posts in the game as well.

The top seeded Bruins came in yo the game winners of 20 of their last 23 games and had the #1 defense and #1 offense in the NHL. As a Devils fan, I can walk away knowing that despite what the scoreboard says, we were just as good if not better than the Bruins tonight. The Devils offense showed they could create scoring chances against the best defense in the league and they limited the Bruins to one rebound goal early in the third period, and we don't even have Marty Broduer in net.

These two teams seem to be mirror images of each other, 12 forwards who are all solid two-way hockey players and no real big name players among them. The defense are a mixture of solid veterans and guys who move the puck well. The differences are the Bruins have two solid goalies, but are either one a true #1 that can carry team deep in the playoffs while the Devils have Clemmensen now but we have the greatest goalie of all time waiting in the wings. The Devils on the other hand are missing that big name defenseman who can do it all, as in the Bruins Zedeno Chara. This is something the Devils need to address come the trade deadline and also the 3rd line needs to click and provide some more offense if the Devils want to beat the deeper teams like the Bruins and Flyers.

But all in all this was a tough start to a tough week, next up the Pens on Friday and then the Rangers on Saturday. So let us all tell Santa to bring us two wins this weekend, that's all I want for Christmas.

Everyone have a great holiday!

Notes:
- Despite the loss, the Devils are now 12-3-1 in their last 16 games.
- This was only the second time this season the Devils have been shut-out, compared to last year where the Devils had been shut-out seven times by Christmas.
- Salvador missed his third game with an upper body injury, while John Madden finally returned to the line-up and seemed to play on of his better games of late.

Devils Blow Another Lead Late

For the sixth time this season the New Jersey Devils blew a lead late in the 3rd period as Jordan Lupul scored 4:44 remaining in the third period to tie the score at 2-2.The Devils would eventually go on to win the game in the shoot-out, but once again in the process they gave away another point to their opponents in the process.

#1: October 18th, Alexander Semin of Washington scores with 5:11 remaining in the 3rd to tie the game at 3-3. Devils eventually won the game in the shoot-out.

#2: November 5th, Martin ST. Louis of Tampa scores with 3:20 remaining to tie the score at 3-3. Devils won 4-3 in the shoot-out.

#3: November 15th, Alex Ovechkin of Washington scores with 1-second left to tie the score at 5-5. Devils eventually won in shoot-out 6-5.

#4: November 26th, Up 2-0 on Florida, Jay Bouwmeester scores with 2:20 left and then David Booth scores with 8-seconds remaining to tie the game. The Devils eventually won 3-2 in OT on a Johnny Oduya goal.

#5: December 12th, Up 5-1 on the Rangers the Devils let the Rangers come back and eventually tie the game on a Ryan Callahan goal with 8:42 remaining. The Devils would score three more goals to win 8-5, but oooohhhh the ulcers it caused us Devils fans.

#6: December 21st, Lupul of Philly scored with 4:44 remaining to tie the game at 2-2. The Devils won the game in the shoot-out 3-2.

The Good thing is the Devils have comeback to win these game and get the two points, but this could be a concern with tough games late in the year and really scary come playoff time. There are two ways to looking at this, the Devils are 14-1 when taking a lead into the 3rd period this season but on the other hand more than one-third of the time they eventually blow that lead.

Game Notes:
- Bryce Salvador and John Madden both missed the past two games, Salvador has an upper body injury and the extent of the injury is still unknown. Madden is still ill with the flu, or as I said could it be something more. Probably not, just me putting some crazy ideas in your heads.
- Rolston-Holik_Clarkson scored again as Rolston got the second goal of the game to give the Devils a 2-0 lead. The line has 3G-2A over the past three games and seem like they be starting to gain some chemistry.
-After winning 7 of 8 games the Lowell Devils have gone south as they are on a current seven game winless streak. The offense has sputtered as they have only scored 11 goals in the past seven games, being shutout twice.

Power-Play / Penalty Starting To Figure It Out

Well Devil fans, I can admit when I was wrong. I believed that the Devils power-play would struggle once they sent Salmela down to Lowell, but instead they have caught fire. The power-play is 6-for-15 (40.0%) in past 5 games and 8-for-24 (23.53%) in the past 10 games.

So what has been the key? Well the Devils finally figured it out that the power-play should not run from the point men, but their two best players Parise and Elias. The combo has combined for 5G-9A on the power-play in the past ten games and Elias and Parise have garnered two of the three possible points on all but one power-play goal. In fact the last power-play goal not seeing Elias and Parise's names next to it on the score sheet was ten games ago when Gionta scored against Florida.

You can see Parise and Elias floating along the right side boards just looking for openings from the wing or feeding Parise down low on the side of the net. This has left the point men open for quality shooting lanes or to sneak in like Oduya did in last nights 5-1 win over Ottawa. Too much emphasis early on Langenbrunner and Rolston to shoot, caused this team to be pressured at the points and take away shooting lanes and also taking the puck out of the Devils two best scorers.

Hey, let us not forget the penalty kill. In the same time the Devils have killed off 38-of-43 (88.37) chances and 18-of-20 (90.0%) in the last five games. This has been just a pure team effort all around, taking away passing lanes, clearing pucks in front and most of all getting the puck out the zone with strong hard clear (No wimpy clears as my friend says).

Let's hope the Devils don't change their style of play and stick with the formula that has been working lately!

Notes:
- Madden did not play last night against Ottawa, due to an illness, or was it something else? Is he on his way out? Rupp is a capable 4th line center, so maybe? Madden and Pandolfo have seemed to be relegated to the 4th line and penalty kill opportunities. That is a lot of money to pay for 4th line players (5.75M to be exact for those two players).

Devils Offense Gets Back On Track ; Rangers Lose Out on Sundin

Before we start on last nights game, lets all grab a tissue and give it a Ranger fan you know. The poor Rangers couldn't find a way to shed cap space and lost out on trying to be the Yankees of the NHL by buying Sundin for their services. Sundin made it official, he has signed with the Vancouver Canucks. Hey who knows maybe they will go after Forsberg now or don't be surprised if Shanahan ends up a Ranger. They will find someone to buy off, too bad for them unlike baseball there is salary cap in the NHL.

Now to the Devils, who got back on track with their offensive game as they downed the Sabres 5-3. The Devils got goals from Zajac, Salvador, a power-play goal from Parise, Clarkson and Rolston. The new line of Rolston-Holik-Clarkson scored the two third period goals and as a unit seemed to get better as the game went on.

Early on I saw the Devils get back to the formula of soft dumps into the corners and a hard pressuring fore-check, not allowing the Sabres defense to get an easy clear. You could see the Devils get the puck and looked to push the puck up the ice and there were several long passes to lead the offensive rush out of their own end. That is what has made these Devils successful on the offensive end this year.

Rolston, who still seems not at 100%, scored his first goal since returning from his ankle injury and Clarkson netted his 6th goal of the year to seal the victory. Both goals came from Clarkson taking the puck to the net. This line seems to have better possibilities of creating offense and coming up a formula for success, rather than Rolston playing with Madden and Pandolfo. Let us not forget that Holik, though signed to be our fourth line center, was a top 2 centerman last year for the Thrashers.

I also want to give a shout out to Travis Zajac. This is someone who couldn't even score an open net early in the year and now has 8 goals, which is tied for 3rd on the team. He is beginning to make me a believer out of me that he may be a top 2 centerman after all.

Now the Devils come home for four games through Christmas, but it will not be easy an the games could be some offensive affairs as the Senators, Flyers, Bruins and Pens come to town.